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If there's a lesson to be learned from international crises and the campaign trail, it's that candidates should do their homework before speaking.
Mike Huckabee got burned earlier this month when it became clear he didn't know about a new National Intelligence Estimate assessing Iran's nuclear capabilities. This time, commenting on the assassination of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, he said the U.S. must consider “what impact does it have on whether or not there’s going to be martial law continuing in Pakistan.” Martial law was lifted two weeks ago.
Bill Richardson also botched the test, and he doesn't have a lack of international experience to blame. Richardson issued a statement calling for President Musharraf to resign. "Until this happens, we should suspend military aid to the Pakistani
government," he said. Richardson has sounded increasingly shrill in recent months, from his blanket insistence on "no residual troops" in Iraq to his transparent attempts at peacemaking during the debates. His Pakistan comments just sound desperate. Naturally, Joe Biden pounced, with a spokesperson calling Richardson's statement "so wildly irresponsible that it can't go unchallenged."
Leave it to Mitt Romney to step in as the voice of reason. Responding to reporters' questions about whether he has enough foreign policy experience to be president, he said: “The
president is not an expert. The president is a leader who guides
America in making the important decisions which must be made to keep us
safe.” True words, although it's odd to hear such a salient defense of Huckabee's ignorance come from Romney's mouth. Even if the two men have their differences, at least they can agree that a president doesn't have to know all that much.
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If you've been under a rock for the past year, reading the candidates' pre-caucus speeches is a good way to catch up. Barack Obama’s “Stand for Change” address summarizes the argument on which his candidacy rests. It’s also chock full of the sly references, opaque allusions, and underhanded sleights we’ve come to expect in the 11th hour. But it might require a little clarification. Here are some excerpts:
I did not run for the presidency to fulfill some long-held ambition or because I believed it was somehow owed to me. Certainly not as far back as, say, kindergarten.
I believed that Americans of every political stripe were hungry for a new kind of politics, a politics that focused not just on how to win but why we should … Here he targets not just Hillary but the Democratic party itself. Many Democrats criticize the party’s obsession with tactics in place of a driving ideology.
Ten months later, Iowa … You've come out in the blistering heat and the bitter cold not just to cheer, but to challenge—to ask the tough questions; to lift the hood and kick the tires … Reminiscent of Christian leader Richard Perry’s endorsement of Rudy Giuliani, in which he likened electing a president to buying a pickup truck.
You've earned the role you play in our democracy because no one takes it more seriously. “Earned,” indeed. After 11 months on the trail, pandering comes as easy as breathing.
[W]e must never negotiate out of fear, but that we must never fear to negotiate with our enemies as well as our friends. Here Obama doubles down on the gamble he took in July, when he said he would sit down with Iran, Syria, and Venezuela without preconditions.
We can't afford the same politics of fear that … invokes 9/11 as a way to scare up votes … Look out, unnamed hypothetical future GOP nominee/opponent!
The real gamble in this election is playing the same Washington game with the same Washington players and expecting a different result. And that's a risk we can't take. Not this year. Not when the stakes are this high. The title of Hillary Clinton’s latest ad: “Stakes.”
The truth is, you can have the right kind of experience and the wrong kind of experience. Mine is rooted in the real lives of real people and it will bring real results if we have the courage to change. I believe deeply in those words. But they are not mine. They were Bill Clinton's in 1992, when Washington insiders questioned his readiness to lead. Both Clintons have tried to diffuse the Bill-Barack parallel, but Obama is sticking with it. That way he gets to be the candidate of change and the heir to Clinton’s legacy.
I walked away from a job on Wall Street to bring job training to the jobless and after school programs to kids on the streets of Chicago. Jives nicely with Obama’s self-burnished rep for telling people—i.e., Wall Street execs—things they don’t want to hear.
It's change that won't just come from more anger at Washington or turning up the heat on Republicans. There's no shortage of anger and bluster and bitter partisanship out there. We don't need more heat. We need more light. A direct reference to Hillary’s “Turn Up the Heat” slogan.
We can change the electoral math that's been all about division and make it about addition—about building a coalition for change and progress that stretches through Blue States and Red States. Echoes the best line from Obama’s career-launching 2004 DNC speech: “We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states.”
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Slate's John Dickerson has a new item up about how the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is impacting the presidential race. A quick excerpt:
To the extent that unpredictable news about the dangerous state of the
world helps anyone, it helps the "safe candidates" (Clinton, McCain,
and Rudy) rather than the untested, roll-of-the-dice candidates (Obama
and Huckabee).
Pakistan has already been an issue in the Democratic primary because,
remember, Obama took a controversial stand on taking military action in
Pakistan whether the leaders of the country liked it or not. Hillary
Clinton has been making the explicit pitch on the stump that voters can
never know what a president will face, and therefore, they should elect
a person who will be ready on Day One. ...
On the Republican side, Rudy was the first out with a statement (the terrorist attack meshed perfectly with his new ad).
McCain's response was to go a-boasting: "In my numerous visits to
Pakistan—to Islamabad, to Peshawar, even to tribal areas of
Waziristan—I have seen first hand the many challenges that face the
political leadership there." If he had more money, he'd probably run an
ad showing his passport stamps.
Read the rest here.
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Shortly after Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, nearly all the candidates released statements condemning the murder. Most of their language was strikingly similar, so we mashed up their quotes to provide the ultimate statement from the next American president to the people of Pakistan. The quotes belong to the names that follow them.
Like her father before her, Benazir Bhutto worked her whole life—and gave her life—to help Pakistan become a democratic, secular and modern Muslim country (Biden). Mrs. Bhutto's concern for her country, and her family, propelled her to risk her life on behalf of the Pakistani people (Clinton).
There are, in Pakistan, brave individuals who seek to lead their country away from extremism and instability and into the light of a better day. America, I believe, must do all we can to support them (McCain). We join with them in mourning her loss, and stand with them in their quest for democracy and against the terrorists who threaten the common security of the world (Obama).
Her death is a reminder that terrorism anywhere—whether in New York, London, Tel-Aviv or Rawalpndi—is an enemy of freedom (Giuliani). America must show its commitment to stand with all moderate forces across the Islamic world and together face the defining challenge of our generation—the struggle against violent, radical jihadists (Romney).
At this critical time we must do everything in our power to help Pakistan continue the path toward democracy and full elections. Our first priority must be to ensure stability in this critical nuclear state (Dodd). The United States must change its policy direction in the region. It must stop adding fuel to the fire (Kucinich).
At this critical moment, America must convey both strength and principle (Edwards). President Bush should press Musharraf to step aside, and a broad-based coalition government, consisting of all the democratic parties, should be formed immediately. Until this happens, we should suspend military aid to the Pakistani government (Richardson).
The terrible violence surrounding Pakistan's upcoming election stands in stark contrast to the peaceful transition of power that we embrace in our country through our Constitution (Huckabee).
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Hillary Clinton kicks off a series of guest blogs by presidential candidates at Glamour.com with some boilerplate about her historic candidacy. But this was interesting:
At a recent campaign stop in Iowa, a little girl gave me a sign she had made that said “Hillary for President—Olivia for President in the future.”
How naive. Doesn't little Olivia know that could be used against her?
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As the candidates enter the “closing arguments” phase—as if they did something terrible and are now standing trial for it—we’re seeing many of them circle back to where they started. In fact, the closing arguments look a lot like the opening arguments.
Rudy Giuliani has a new minutelong ad harping on 9/11. Barack Obama delivered a speech today called “Stand for Change,” which sounds a lot like his original campaign announcement. Mitt Romney is returning to the managerial-competence argument that fueled initial interest in his candidacy. John Edwards is still blasting lobbies and special interest groups (while navigating some conflict of interest problems of his own). Mike Huckabee is once again showing off his favorite gun (the Weatherby .300 Magnum, you surely recall). John McCain once again seems to have a fighting chance. And Hillary Clinton even calls her recent ad “New Beginning,” giving the whole primary calendar a warm, circle-of-life symmetry.
Even more telling: Both the Republican and Democratic races are just as much of a tossup now as they were in January 2007. For a race whose dominant theme has been “change,” it's bizarre to find ourselves back where we were. We're a year older, but are we any wiser? Arguably, at best.
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Any time Mike Huckabee has a gun in his hand, it's a good bet he'll say something quote-worthy. The Huckster has a penchant for semi-morbid quips (he's even said he speaks in "Huckabese"), and yesterday's pheasant-hunt photo-op was the perfect opportunity to unleash a new one. But journalists are beginning to trip over themselves in their search for the money quote.
Ever since the press has gotten used to Huckabee's half-quip, half-stump speaking style, they've been trying to coax campaign-damaging jokes out of Huckabee. The strategy has yielded mixed results.
As CBS news reports, when Huckabee was asked how shooting birds is a metaphor for the campaign, he said, "Don't get in my way." Threatening, vaguely morbid, alludes to Republican opponents: 7 out of 10 on the Huckabese scale.
Then, desperation started to set in. Somebody said, “Governor, you haven’t made one Dick Cheney joke.” Huckabee threw her a bone, “I really do want to survive all the way through to the deal here.” Stokes the "Huckabee hates Bush narrative," reminds us he’s quick on his feet, but is child’s play compared with The Daily Show: 4 out of 10.
At some point Huckabee tired of the journalists' pleas. As he stood over the dead birds, one woman asked, "Do they have names? Like Romney, Thompson ... ?" Huck said, “I'll let you guys decide that. I would never be so coarse and crude as to do something that would be insensitive. I'm a sensitive guy.” Party pooper: 0 out of 10.